The names of "certain individuals" believed to be at the centre of a cover-up
over a hospital where babies died through neglect will be published later
today, Health Minister Earl Howe has disclosed.

Earl Howe told the Lords that ministers had challenged the Care Quality Commission (CQC) decision to withhold the names in a report about a cover-up of an internal review which criticised its inspections of University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, where a number of mothers and babies died.

Challenged by Labour, he said: "My understanding is that the CQC will later today publish the names of certain individuals currently anonymised in the report."

There was criticism of the CQC's refusal to name those who instigated the apparent cover-up over deaths of mothers and babies at the trust.

The Care Quality Commission claimed it could it not disclose the identities of those who ordered the destruction of a report which highlighted failings by the watchdog, nor whether those responsible were still employed, due to data protection laws.

However the Information Commissioner’s office said the legislation was “no blanket ban preventing senior managers being held to account”.

Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, demanded that those responsible for the apparent cover-up ultimately be publicly identified, despite defending the CQC’s decision not to name the individuals immediately.

David Behan, chief executive of the CQC, was forced to pledge to look again at the legal advice to not reveal the names of those involved.

Mr Behan told BBC's Newsnight programme that he had been advised that "to put people's personal data [into the report] would be a breach of their rights".

"I was acting on the legal advice I was given, I acted in good faith," he said.

However, he added: "We've decided today that we will review that legal advice and we've commissioned a review of that legal advice to see if we can put this information into the public domain."

Christopher Graham, the Information Commissioner, said he doubted the legal advice given to the CQC.

"This feels like a public authority hiding behind the Data Protection Act, it's very common, but you have to go by what the law says and the law is very clear,” he said. “You have to process data fairly, you have to take into account people's expectation of confidentiality, patient data, obvious, but officials, there you have to apply a public interest test.

"I'm not convinced that the Care Quality Commission have been correctly advised. I think they are going to have to look at this again."

The watchdog was embroiled in a deepening controversy tonight as it attempted to defend its decision to censor the damning report, which says the organisation may be involved in a “broader and ongoing cover-up”, suggesting that the whole truth about the CQCs suppression of the scandal has yet to emerge.

The report, published today, revealed that the CQC deleted the review of their failure to act on concerns about UHMB, where police are investigating the deaths of at least eight mothers and babies. It concluded that the CQC was guilty of a “cover-up” but did not name individuals.

Those protected include one senior manager who ordered an internal review that uncovered major weaknesses in its inspection systems, which may have cost the lives of mothers and babies, and a second official who said that the report must “never be in a public domain”.

The CQC said it could not publish the names because doing so “would have been breaching the Data Protection Act”.

Norman Lamb, a health minister, yesterday called for “full transparency”.

Mr Hunt has asked the CQC to report back to him on what action should be taken within the next two months.

He said: “The whole truth must now come out and individuals must be held to account.”

Mr Hunt apologised to the families of those who had died. He said: “I want to apologise on behalf of the Government and the NHS for all the appalling suffering they have endured.”

However, Mr Hunt said redacting the names of officials in the report was the “right decision” at the moment on the basis of the legal advice.

MPs said that the decision not to publish the names was “flawed”. Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat President, who is MP for Westmorland & Lonsdale has now referred the apparent cover-up to the Metropolitan Police.

He said: “Grieving families deserve to know who made these decisions”, adding: “The Data Protection Act is supposed to protect the powerless against the powerful — not the other way round.”